Outstanding sportsmanship recognised

16 April 2018

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A Tongan/New Zealand weightlifter has won a prestigious award at the Commonwealth Games for outstanding sportsmanship in helping a Samoan weightlifter.

Kiwi gold medallist David Liti was presented with the David Dixon Award at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games for his kind gesture and words of respect for his friend and weightlifting rival Lauititi Lui who injured himself in competition.

Lui injured his knee badly while attempting to lift 228kg in the clean and jerk, ultimately settling for silver.

After helping Lui onto the podium, Liti wrote on Facebook: “If there is no you, there is no competition. Thank you for being the challenger best suited for me to push myself. No doubt I’ll be seeing you soon and we will be going head to head again. Alofa atu uso.”